Loose leaf binder



March TL959 M. MURPHY ET AL 2,879,772

LOOSE LEAF BINDER Filed June 11, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 A T INVENTORS T h M4 wwwa .1 Man /n4 /8 & 205:5?7' u]. HOLTOA/ I BY MM? KW March 31, 1959 M. J. MURPHY ET AL 2,879,772

LOOSE LEAF BINDER Filed June 11, 1956' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TORS 1 Z I MAYA/470 J. Mae/ ny 205527 J. H04 ro/v LOOSE LEAF BINDER Maynard J. Murphy and Robert J. Holton, Cleveland, Ohio Application June 11, 1956, Serial No. 590,651

7 Claims. (Cl. 129-1) This invention relates to mechanical loose leaf binders and in particular a loose leaf binder having improved locking means for releasably securing the leaf retaining members to one of the binder covers.

'The efiiciency and utility of a loose leaf binder depends largely upon the ease with which'the leaf retaining or transfer members may be released or opened for removal or insertion of leaves and also upon positive locking of the members in the closed-position to prevent them from opening inadvertently. The achievement of'both these purposes has been ditficult to attain in a compact low-cost binder. M oreover, loose leaf binders heretofore have been characterized by rigid right-type retaining members mounted in fixed positions on the binder which make the binder cumbersome 'to carry and handle or store.

A general object of our invention is the provision of a compact portable loose leaf binder with flexible or yieldable leaf retainers, each made from a single strand of piano wire or the like. Another object is the provision of a binder with flexible wire-like leaf retaining members and novel retainer locking means which positively locks the members to the binder and which quickly releases the members when it is desired to remove or replace filler leaves. A more specific object is the provision of a quickly releasable positive locking device for a binder which permits limited rotation of the leaf re.- tainers while locked to the binder. Another object is the provision of an efiicient binder locking device having a minimum number of operating parts. A further object is the provision of an inexpensive loose leaf binder having leaf retainers made of wire and retainer locking means made of spring metal strips. A more specific object is the provision of a loose leaf binder for punch cards wherein the retainer holes in the cards have a minimum diameter to provide a maximum area of record space on the card.

These and other objects of our invention will "become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

I Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views of a'binder embodying our invention and shown in closed and opened positions, respectively.

Figure 3 is an enlarged elevation of one of the leaf retainer members.

Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse section showing opposite ends of one of the leaf retainers locked to the binder plate, the section being taken on line 44 of Figure 2.

:Figure 5 is a section similar ,to Figure 4 showing one dfthe lock springs in the raised or unlocked positionfor Patented Mar. 31, 1959 releasing one end of the retainer member from the binder plate.

Figure 6 is a greatly enlarged portion of Figure 4 showing the details of the retainer lock construction.

Figure 7 is a top view of retainer locking assembly, the

view being taken on line 7-7 of Figure 4.

A preferred embodiment of our invention is illustrated in the drawings as a loose leaf binder B having rigid coverscomprising a bottom plate 10 and a top plate 11 and arranged to overlie opposite ends respectively of a stack of filler leaves L. Plates 10 and 11 preferably are made of plastic, metal or other suitable material and the leaves L may comprise a plurality of punch cards or the like on which data is recorded. Top plate 11 and each of the cards L are slidably mounted on a pair of laterally spaced leaf retainer members 14 and 15 adjacent the back edge 16 of plate 10, each of the members 14 and 15 extending from the upper surface 17 to the lower surface 18 of plate 10 in a closed loop, with the major portion of the loop extending above the plane of upper surface 17 of plate 10.

,These retainer members are identical and preferably are made from equal lengths of flexible wire, such as piano wire, having a diameter of about .043", with the opposite ends of each member, see Figure 3, doubledback to form enlargements 19, 20. In the preferred embodiment of our invention, the ends of each member are bent back on the same side of the axis of the wire, as shown, and both members releasably locked to lower plate 10 at laterally spaced points adjacent back edge 16 byspring locks 21 and 22. Top plate 11 is formed with a pair of laterally spaced retaining holes 24 and 25, and each leaf or card L has a similar pair of holes 26 and 27 through which the retainer members 14 and 15, respec tively, extend; each of the holes 24, 25, 26 and 27 being slightly larger than the enlargements 19 and 20 of the retainer member to permit these enlargements to pass through when the binder is assembled and, further, vto facilitate movement of the top plate and the cards along the .axes of the retainer members. It will be noted the closed loops of the retainer members permit top plate 11 and cards L to be guided along retainer members to the underside of lower plate 10, when desired, .to provide maximum exposure of any one of the cards in the stack. Y

Spring locks .21 and 22 are identical in construction and mode of operation ,in securing the ends of the retainer members to plate 10. Accordingly the structure of one of these spring locks, that is, lock 21, will be described hereinafter in conjunction with locking .of retainer member 14. i

Look 21 comprises a pair of bands or strips 31, ,32 se cured in vertical alignment with each other, as viewed in the drawings, and on opposite sides of lower plate 10. Strips 31 and 32 extend transversely on back edge ,16 of the plate :and are secured to the plate at their inner ends remote from edge 16 by rivets 33 or other suit able securing means. The opposite or outer end of upper strip 31 extends beyond edge 16 of the plate and de? fines a lifting lip 31, while the outer end 32 of lower strip '32 preferably is spaced slightly inwardly from the plate edge. The portion of plate 10 between the strips has two holes 37 and 38 spaced inwardly and at different distances from plate edge 16, as shown,'for receiving' the, enlargements 19 and20, on the ends ofretainer nernbei:

14. The diameter of each of holes 37 and 38 preferably is the same as the diameters of cover plate holes 24, 25, that is, slightly greater than the cross-sectional dimension of enlargements 19 and 20 on the ends of the retainer member, to facilitate reception of these enlargements within plate holes 37 and 38. The length X, see Figure 3, of the doubled or bent part of each enlargement preferably is equal to or slightly less than the thickness T of bottom plate and accordingly the enlargement is fully disposed within the associated plate hole when the retainer member is locked.

Lock strips 31 and 32 preferably are made of resilient material such as spring steel and are formed with keyhole shaped openings 39 and 40 having enlarged portions 39a, 40a merging with smaller portions 3%, 40b, see Figures 6 and 7. Opening 39 in strip 31 overlaps hole 37 in the lower plate 10 such that the smaller portion 39b of the strip opening overlies a part of plate hole 37. In practice,

we prefer that the smaller portion 39b of the strip opening be semi-circular and have a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the wire of which retainer member 14 is made. With retainer enlargement disposed'in plate hole 37 as shown in Figure 6, the marginal edge 42 of the strip opening engages the shank of retainer member 14 and overlies or covers enlargement 20 and thus positively locks the retainer member to the lower binder plate. It will be noted that lower spring lock strip '32 closes the lower end of plate hole 37 so that the end of the retainer member is prevented from moving out of either end of hole 37.

In order to release the upper reach of retainer member 14 from its locked connection with binder plate 10, the outer end of strip 31 is lifted manually by engagement of the finger under lip 31', the major part of the length of the strip being bowed upwardly as indicated in broken line in Figure 5 to thereby space the marginal edges of strip opening 39 above upper surface 17 of plate 10. This upwardly bending of strip 31 exposes the entire upper end of plate hole 37 and frees enlargement 19 which then is lifted from hole 37 and through the larger portion 39a of the strip opening. Strip 31 returns by spring action to its original position and the same procedure is followed to release the upper reach of the other retainer Lower lock strip 32 cooperates in the same manner with the adjacent plate hole 38 to releasably lock the opposite end 20 of retainer member 14 to the plate. For normal use of the binder, the upper ends only of the looped retainer members are released and re-locked for replacement of filler leaves in the binder while the lower ends of the retainer members remain locked to the underside of the plate. In order to prevent inadvertent release of the lower end of the retainer member, we prefer that the outer end 32' of strip 32 be spaced inwardly from the back edge 16 of the plate. If desired, strip 32 may be bowed outwardly from the plate to release the retainer member when it is desired to disassemble the binder, and for this purpose a sharp edged tool G, see Figure 5, is used to pry strip 32 away from the plate.

It is noted that the smaller portions 3% and 40b of strip openings 39 and 40, respectively, overlie the plate holes so as to snugly embrace the shank of the retainer member. The adjacent portions 39a and 40a of the strip openings are sufficiently large to permit the enlargements, on the ends of the retainer members to pass through the strips during locking and unlocking of the members. Plate holes 37 and 38 are sufliciently large in diameter readily to receive enlargements 19 and 20 and to permit rotation of these enlargements when the members are locked. Accordingly the retainer members may be rotated about vertical axes and relative to plate 10 sothat their looped portions may be folded toward the back edge of the plate, if desired, to make the binder more compact for storage purposes.

An important advantage of this locking system is the simple low cost construction afforded by the arrangement of the lock strips 31 and 32 which reduces the number of parts required to a minimum. Each of the locking strips serves to close or cover one of the plate holes 37 or 38 which permits the holes to be drilled in plate 10. With both lock strips 31 and 32 arranged in vertical alignment with each other, each is fastened to plate 10 by the same securing means, that is, by rivets 33. The upper and lower binder plates 10 and 11 are substantially the same in size and shape, and it is necessary only to form two additional holes 38 in one of the plates to adapt it for use as a bottom plate. The upper and lower spring locking strips 31 and 32 can be formed and punched simultaneously since the key hole shaped openings 39 and 40, respectively, in them are identical, it being noted however that the lower strip is shorter than the upper strip in the preferred embodiment of our invention. Alternatively, identical upper and lower strips could be employed in our binder, with the lower strip offset inwardly from the back edge 16 of plate 10 so that the inner end of the lower strip 32v would extend further behind the rivets 33.

Modifications and changes to the above described preferred embodiment of our invention may become apparent to those skilled in the art without, however, departing from the precepts and scope of our invention. For example, while we have shown spring locks 16 and 17 as being disconnected from each other, it is not without the scope of our invention to mechanically interconnect the respective top strips 31, so that both strips may be elevated and lowered together to connect or disconnect both retainer members at the same time. The scope of the invention is defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a looseleaf binder, a rigid plate, a plurality of stacked filler leaves, a retainer member on which said filler leaves are mounted, said retainer memler comprising a single strand of flexible wire-like material formed in a closed loop with one of its two ends connected to said plate adjacent one edge thereof, means for releasably holding the other of the two ends of said retainer member to said plate adjacent said edge comprising a sprink lock strip for said other end of said retainer member extending in a direction transversely of said edge with one end of the strip projecting beyond said edge, an enlargement at the end of said retainer member, a hole in said plate receiving said enlargement, and an opening in said strip overlying part of said plate hole with the marginal edge of said strip opening engaging said enlargement at the end of said retainer member.

2. A releasable lock for a hinder or the like comprising a strand of wire having an enlarged end, a plate having therein a plate opening adapted to receive the enlarged end of the wire, and a resilient lock strip of the nature of a leaf spring secured thereto in a zone remote from the plate opening having an opening of the keyhole type overlapping the plate opening with its edge engaging the enlarged end of said wire, said lock strip by virtue of its resilience being bendable away from said plate to release the enlarged end of the wire to unlock the wirefrom said plate.

3. A releasable lock according to the claim 2 in which the enlargement at the end of the strand of wire is of the same depth as the plate.

4. A releasable lock according to claim 3 in which they end of the strand of wire is bent back upon itself to form the enlargement.

5. Mechanism of releasably securing a retainer member to opposite sides of a plate, comprising a plate having a pair of closely spaced holes therein, a strand the ends of which are received in the holes in said plate, and a pair of resilient lock strips of the nature of leaf springs secured to said plate in zones remote from said holes on opposite sides of said plate, each of said strips overlying both of said holes, each of said strips having an opening therein, the opening of one strip being defined by an edge which at least partially overlies one of said holes and the opening of the other strip being defined by an edge which at least partially overlies the other of said holes, and each of said strips having such edge positioned for engagement with one of the ends of said strand.

6. Mechanism according to claim 5 in which both ends of said strand are enlarged,

7. Mechanism according to claim 5 in which said plate has an edge and at least one of said strips projects beyond said plate edge.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 389,530 Schlicht Sept. 11, 1888 2,196,483 Vaughan Apr. 9, 1940 2,260,886 Daley Oct. 28, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 674,820 Germany Apr. 22, 1939 

